Who We Are
Change Grow Live is one of the largest charities in the UK, and the UK’s largest third-sector provider of health and social care services. Since our earliest days we’ve been committed to confronting social, economic, and health inequalities head-on, delivering:
- Local impact – we work hard to improve services and experience
- Inclusive, quality services – built on partnership and multi-disciplinary expertise
- Research and evidence – learning and sharing what works
- A voice – collaborating with and sharing the personal stories of people with lived and living experience to drive systemic change
- Compassionate care – a commitment to everyone’s right to the support they need to live a better life.
Our areas of expertise are:
- Drug and alcohol prevention, treatment and recovery support for children, young people and adults.
- Supporting people during and after involvement with the criminal justice system.
- Helping people we support into work and training.
- Street outreach, supporting and connecting homeless people to essential services and accommodation.
- Encouraging and helping people who want to stop smoking.
Established in 1977 as a volunteer-led initiative in Sussex, we have evolved into a nationwide organisation.
Each year, we deliver support and care to more than 200,000 people across more than 250 services in England and Scotland.
We are one of the largest employers of healthcare professionals outside of the NHS, thanks to our teams of medics, psychiatrists, nurses, pharmacists, trained staff and lived experience volunteers and peers.
Together, our teams work with the people who access our services to help them transform their lives, meet their goals and achieve their full potential.
Our Mission, Vision and Values
Our work is guided by a simple principle that experience tells us works: believe in people.
We believe that, with the right opportunities and support, anyone can change their life for the better.
Our mission is to transform lives by providing services built on evidence and compassion, rooted in the communities we serve.
Our vision is a world where people are seen for their potential, not judged on their problems.
Our values work together as principles that guide the way we act and the choices we make: be open, be compassionate, be bold.
Our 2025-2030 Strategy
This year, we’re launching a five-year strategy to ensure we help more people access support earlier.
Our strategy is driven by a belief that people have a right to high quality healthcare. In 2023 we conducted a review of our governance activities against the Charity Commission’s Governance Code, to ensure that the people who access our services are receiving the highest possible standard of care.
Our strategy also commits us to being a learning organisation that embraces innovation. The world is changing, and so must we; we are adopting new technologies and AI to free up time for our staff so they can focus on what matters most: helping people to make positive changes and move forward with their lives.
Why Join us as a trustee?
We’re at a pivotal moment in our journey. Our 2025-2030 strategy provides us with a roadmap for using innovation, flexibility and our sector expertise to reach more people than ever and deliver lasting change.
As a trustee, you will play a crucial role in helping us achieve this. You will help to guide our strategic direction, ensure excellence in our governance, foster a culture of learning and innovation, and uphold the charity’s mission to transform lives and communities for the better.
If you want to help us make a difference, we’d love to hear from you.
“The trustee role at Change Grow Live is exceptionally interesting because you’re dealing with a multitude of different factors, with a primary focus on the safety and positive experience of the people who use our services.
There’s digital transformation happening, and organisational transformation, and part of the role of a trustee is helping the executive and leadership team to think about and develop that change in a way that creates a better experience for the people we serve.
It’s exciting because it’s already a successful organisation, but now it’s transforming into something else beyond that and as a trustee I can help to guide that change.”
Michael Vavakis
Trustee